best craft post ever.

Susan Beal has written one of the most comprehensive, linked up posts on DIY projects for the holidays (or anytime) I think I've ever read. And I'm not just saying that because she mentions me! Really, check this piece out, you still have more than 24 hours to whip up some last minute gifts!

In other news I think I just saw the best shirt ever, it said New Jovi and had a picture of the garden state between the words. I didn't have my digital camera. But I did take a picture on my phone, so when I get back to SF I'll be sure to post it up here. I'll definitely be coming back home with some Jersey souvenirs. OK, I've got about three hours of gift wrapping ahead of me so I should sign off.

That fabulous wreath I found on Craft, go to their blog for directions on how to make that gem.

Jersey Vacation.

After one of the worst flights ever, with turbulence so intense I really thought the plane was going to rip in half, I made it safely to Jersey. I'm in my mom's kitchen, Sade is playing in the background (one of the first good songs I've heard on the smooth jazz station she has on), I'm typing on her super slow computer, and it's actually warmer here than it was in SF when I left. I'm looking forward to being offline for the next few days. I doubt my little brothers will let me on to their computers much anyway. I have a cold, and maybe a fever, yet somehow I'm still flled with anticipation for the holiday, seeing all these people I never get to see and filling my guts with food and wine. I'll report back with any Bon Jovi sightings. Happy Holidays. xo

What I want for Christmas.

I was just reading Whipup.net, during my lunch time break and found the most beautiful ring I think I've ever seen. I really dig when artists mix industrial materials with softer ones like fabric or thread. The rings are by Corina Rietveld. Her website is all in German, so I have no idea where or how to get one of these beauties, or even how much it costs. But I want one.

More mini things.

My final craft fair at the Crucible was my best this season. It was a little cold in there, but the Crucible really is an amazing place, I'd like to take some jewelry making classes there in the future. My East Bay week-end was also filled with visits from lots of friends and great gatherings. I know it's corny, but sometimes I really can't believe how lucky I am that I have such amazing people in my life who love me and care about me as much as I do them. I'm a lucky girl. Below are some pictures from what I had at the Crucible, check out my Bird tree!



And I love that when my friends consume copious amounts of alcohol and we're gathered together for a 'holiday' party, this is what we spend our time doing:

It may be hard to tell from the pictures, but these are little figurines that Roger and Sarah had on display in their house, someone had the idea of making a little scene in this low hanging light. We spent a while playing with the light that night. And yes, we were just drinking.

doppelganger.

I always thought I was unusual looking. Or at least, I liked thinking that there was no one else out there that looked exactly like me. But lately a lot of people are confusing me with someone else. The most disturbing incident happened a few weeks ago at Shannon's book release party. You know those people that look at you a little too long and then look away as soon as you make eye contact? If it's a guy doing the looking I like to think that he's so taken with my beauty he can't peel his eyes off me, but then when I look his way he's too intimated by my startling good looks to come over and introduce himself. Don't tell me you don't think the same thing. No really, I don't want to know. Anyway, this particular night it was a girl who was looking at me like that. She didn't look away when I made eye contact and smiled at her, she walked over and looked at me hard. I said "hi" a little freaked out that she came closer just to get a better look, as if I had some growth on my face I wasn't aware of or some other deformity I had failed to notice. Then she seemed to snap out of what ever reverie she had been in, "I'm so sorry", she seemed a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, "but you look exactly like my childhood babysitter." When I asked where she was from and she told me Michigan, I assured her there was no way it was possible. She seemed a little disappointed and again commented on the striking similarities. What I really wanted to ask was what you never have the nerve to ask in those situations, "Was she pretty, really unfortunate looking, or just average?" I was also wondering if I looked old that night, because I couldn't have been more than a few years older than this girl. I mean I usually get carded for a drink, so it sort of freaked me out that I was being mistaken for a 26 year olds child babysitter. Really I would have asked her to e-mail me a photo if I didn't feel like I had let her down by not being who she thought I was. How much does it suck that when a stranger tells you you look just like someone else they know you rarely get to see that someone else to compare notes? I mean, I want to see me in three dimensions and a doppelganger seems the most probable way for that to happen. Or a wax sculpture, but I doubt that's happening anytime soon.
Maybe I wouldn't have been as freaked out if the same thing hadn't happened to me two days earlier. I was at one of my craft fairs, sitting there, minding my business when this pretty decent looking boy came up to my table. He kept glancing up at me and not really looking at the things on my table. Then he finally made steady eye contact and asked, "Haven't we met before?" The longer he looked at me the more convinced he seemed to be that we had indeed spent time together before. And when I say time, I mean had sex. I looked at him and really tried to place him, half the time I want these things to work, I want to be able to look at the person and recognize something and then be pulled back to a memory with them in it. But as I looked at him I got nothing. "Sorry, I don't think I know you." He sort of smirked, almost winked at me and continued to look at my stuff. It was as if he didn't believe me and I got the awkward feeling he thought we had slept together or something. I started to actually question if I had met him drunkenly at a party and gone home with him. But even when I'm wasted I don't black out and really there wasn't a hint of recognition in his face for me. As he walked away he looked at me again, as if he knew some secret but wasn't going to say it out loud, he took my card and smiled. Again, I felt sort of bad that I wasn't who he thought I was. But why does this keep happening? I swear I have about 5 stories like this just from the past six months. If there are so many people that look hanutingly like me, I've got to run into one of them soon, right? I'm not sure if I would love that or hate it. Maybe it would result in some ninja like fight, where we would agree that only one of us can walk this earth and so we fight each other to the death. Or maybe we'll just walk by each other and barely notice.

The final countdown.

Hoorah. The last week-end of fairs for me. Saturday and Sunday I'll be in the East Bay at the Crucible. You have no idea how happy I am to put the duct tape and sewing machine aside for a few weeks. I did way too many craft sales this season. And as a consequence I've spent the last three Fridays at home making stuff. While there's nothing wrong with spending a Friday night at home, I can't help but think there maybe something wrong with how into Trading Spouses I've gotten. I'm such a fucking sucker for reality TV. But really, the one tonight was good. A Miami Beach wife married to a model trading places with a lower income family in Buffalo NY, if that doesn't make for good TV I'm not sure what does. And I thought last weeks episode was good. I kind of scared myself when they showed the previews for next week and I got really sad realizing I would be flying when part two of tonights show aired. I even thought about asking my step-dad to Tivo the show. But then I realized how fucking ridiculous that was. I'll just rent that shit when it's on DVD. Just kidding. Sort of, do they have trading spouses on DVD?

See that cute dog up there? Well I'll be spending a lot of time with him this week-end. Jake's one of the best dogs I know and I can't wait to see the little guy. That's right, I'll be spending the entire week-end in the East Bay, because that's how I do it. If I make the trip that far from the city I have to stay at least two nights.

i miss the snow.

busy time.

I know, I haven't been posting a whole lot lately. It's been eating away at me, but between making stuff for craft fairs, writing for sfist, working full time and trying to keep a little bit of a social life I've been stretched a little thin this month. I've got some good stories I can't wait to share. But for now you'll have to just take these pictures from one of my fairs this week-end. Check out the bags I'm making out of reclaimed billboard material. Two fairs left this week-end in the East Bay at the Crucible and then I'm done!! After that I'm off to jersey & new york to see some friends and family. Oh the mini stuff pictured here are things I bought for snow globes I plan on making. And if you want to make your own snow globe check out sfist.com later today, as I wrote up an instructional piece on how to do it.

Some amazing handmade doll creatures:

Eden's jewelry with some paintings by Hillary on the wall:

to do this week-end.

heart breaking.

I don't know the Kim family, but my thoughts are with them during this heart wrenching time. Here's a beautiful piece on Wired about James Kim.

Pet Noir.

I'm sure this is getting old, but so much of what I'm writing these days is going on sfist. So here's another link to a piece up there today. It's on my dear friend, Shannon O'Leary's book release party last night.

More Craft Shows.

Here's another piece I wrote for sfist on more craft shows this week.
Get Crafty!

snow globes.

It's crafting month. On top of all of my fairs this season, I'm also going to be writing a craft column for sfist.com from now on. Look for it there on Tuesdays. Really I should be writing it right now, but I'm too busy playing with all the things I bought on the way home for a new project I'm trying out. I've been wanting to make snow globes for a while now, ever since I saw the director at my old non-profit job make them for every one in her family one year. I thought it was a genius idea, and I'm not surprised it's been popping up all over the place. It seems easy enough, although really I can't tell you because I haven't tried it yet. After having a drink with Sarah I stopped by Pearl. They still don't have my damn mini birds I need for earrings, but they do have an entire section of dollhouse figurines, trees, furniture, food, you name it. I felt a little weird being in that section of the store, like it was taking some serious points away from my hipness level. But I guess I stopped really worrying about that stuff a while ago. I spent a long time there, I mean everything is mini-- I couldn't get over it, mini soda cans with real labels, little metal singer sewing machines (of which I bought three), and mini people. If I was self conscious in picking the mini things out I felt even weirder when the cute check out boy, probably a sophomore at the Art Academy, was ringing up my items, 'mini people walking, mini farm animals, mini evergreens, three mini sewing machines and plastic swans'. When he asked the standard, "Are you a teacher or a student?" I wanted to respond, "No, just a weird lady who doesn't have a dollhouse but really likes tiny things, want a mini-coke?" But I just shook my head, maybe feeling sorry for me, he gave me the discount anyway. It was sort of horrifying having to go back in the store once I looked at the receipt and noticed he rang up my 'mini people walking' twice. "You rang one of my items up twice."
"Oh, sorry, which one?"
"My set of mini people."
That's a long way of telling you I'm just thrilled to be making some snow globes, snowy (or glittery) domes for all my little animals and people. OK, maybe I am a little weird. I'll let you know how it goes. Actually, if all goes well I'm going to photo document it and make it my column for next Tuesday. Speaking of- I should hop to it.

Good news is always welcome.

I know I've been a little absent around these parts, but this week-end was my first craft fair and I've been up to my elbows in duct tape. I don't really like to think about how bad all those tape fumes probably are for me, especially since I have 4 more fairs coming up. I'll post info about them soon.

Really, I just wanted to rejoice in the wonderful news of this headline I've been obsessing over this story of the Kim family, who has been missing since November 25th. And it's such fantastic news that Kati and their two girls were found alive. Thinking lots of good thoughts and crossing my fingers they'll find James next.